I haven’t been writing many reviews over the past few months, my day job and other commitments have been taking up lots of time. But I still make time to read comics every week, even if I’m not writing reviews about them. I finished Generation Gone #1 a few minutes ago and had to immediately write something to let people who may have missed the absolute gem of a comic what’s the deal with it and why you should be giving it a try if you’ve not gotten it already.

The story trope isn’t new: “Disaffected young people get super-powers… we then wonder what will happen next?” But something about the way writer Ales Kot and artist André Lima Araújo tell the story made me jump up from the couch (where I read my comics) and sit at the computer to write these words you’re reading. Our 3 hackers; Nick, Elena, and Baldwin, are all developed as unique individuals over the course of this 50 page 1st issue. Nick is a douche, I don’t like him at all. He’s controlling and manipulative and he does not treat his girlfriend Elena very nicely at all. Just making it past the first couple of pages (including the cover, which is the 1st panel of the story) was a bit of a struggle because I took an immediate dislike to the guy. But evoking that feeling tells me that Kot is a great writer and Araújo is a great artist for giving Nick just the right set of facial expressions to go along with the dialogue and really reinforce his character. Elena is a good person. We can wonder how she ended up with Nick but in real life I’ve seen plenty of nice people who are in relationships with jerks so this is definitely something that happens. Baldwin rounds out the trio and adds in a maturity and social conscience. Though unstated, these 3 must have gone to school or in some way grown up together, it’s the most likely way for this unlikely trio to be such close friends.

Added to this is the other side of the equation, the dedicated researcher Mr. Akio working for the military with a number of successful projects under his belt, who is now falling behind on his ‘Project Airstrip One’ because he’s spending time on a side-project of his own: ‘Project Utopia’. Yes. The one that makes people superhuman. I don’t want to get deeper into it than this because I don’t want to spoil the story. I’ve so far constrained myself to mostly things that were in the solicits and that can be gleaned from reading the first few pages. Kot & Araújo are telling a story here that grabbed me and held my rapt attention through 40+ pages of talking and character building before the action happened that is going to carry us into issue #2. Araújo’s art is crisp and clean, with no need for lots of crosshatching or shading. Just a fine line that delineates the characters with an economy of linework that nonetheless made the characters real for me.

Don’t be scared away by the $4.99 cover price, since it brings with it 50 pages of story, double the pages you’ll get in a $4.99 ‘event’ book from Marvel/DC. You won’t see any familiar super-heroes you’ve loved for years, instead you’ll be introduced to some characters who you may grow to love over the course of this story. It’s a new world and the lack of a familiar super-hero universe means that anything can happen, and most likely it will. What Ales Kot and André Lima Araújo have done here is make something totally different out of something very familiar. It won’t be everyone’s cup of tea, this first issue is definitely lacking in “let’s punch each other” style action, at least not YET, I think that’s coming. I can see readers looking for that level of action not connecting with this story, but it’s one of my favorite comics of the year so far and I’m looking forward to seeing where the story takes me when #2 comes out on August 23rd. Check with your local shop and try to grab a copy of #1 before #2 comes out!